Safety pin



May l, 1951 5 wfH.v sNElRsoN 2,551,063

SAFETY PIN Filed Nov.l l0, 1948 Patented May l, 1951 UNITED STATESPATENT Q OFFICE SAFETY PIN I William H. Sneirson, Brookline, Mass.Application November 10, 1948, Serial No. 59,299

My*` present invention relates to safety pins and'particularly to safetypins for use inthe case of babies.

y In taking care of babies, safety pins'are Widely used, with the mostcommon example of their use being that of holding diapers in place. Forthat purpose, 'it is essential that a safety pin be adapted to holdsecurely, through several layers of cloth, against the pulls exerted bya healthy and lively baby and at the same time be capable ofbeing easilyopened and closed. `While the standard safety pin has given acceptableservice, wherever employed, it has notl been entirely satisfactory foruse in connection with'the care of babies, in that it does not fullymeet such requirements in that its accidental opening is an altogethertoo frequent occurrence.

In accordance with my invention, I provide a safety pin in whichanypossibility of its accidental opening is virtually eliminated. My pinhas a plastic head in which one end ofthe back leg is embeddedv andVwhich has a recess in its face that is disposed towards the connectedends of the legs. The recess is of such cross sectional shape as toestablish a pocket spaced from the back leg in a plane normal to thelegs, a channel, preferably sinuous, opening upwardly and outwardlythrough one side of the head to receive the pointed end of the front legand located wholly on that side of the plane, and a second channelextending upwardly from that pocket and establishing a surfaceintersecting that plane and inclined upwardly towards the other side ofthe head. Preferably, the head includes a projecting ledge intermediatethe channels to enable the user of the safety pin to tell at a glancewhich channel the pointed end of the front leg occupies.

The usual practice is to form both legs from suitable resilient stockwith an intermediate coil yieldably maintaining the free ends of thelegs normally spaced a predetermined distance apart. Where that practiceis followed, I provide a guard for the coil which has the usefulfunction, regardless of the head structure, of preventing cloth `frombecoming caught in the coil and lending to the attractive appearanceofthe safety pin. In practice, however, the guard has a slot Athroughwhich the front leg freely extends and which defines a shoulder againstwhich the front leg bears when pressed a predetermined'distance towardsthe back leg so that further movement of the frontfleg towards itsheadjentering position can be effected only by bendingit'.; j

By this construction, I am able to provide a 2 Claims'. (Cl. 24-156) vsafety pin that is both attractive in appearance andcombines maximum.ease in opening f and closing the'rsafety pin andv ensures against itsbeing accidentally opened.

In the accompanyingv drawings, I have shown an illustrativel embodimentof my invention from lwhic'hthese and other of 1 its` novel f eaturesandadvantages will be readily apparent.

In the drawings: e i 1 Fig. 1 is a side View of a safety pin inaccordance with my invention. l y

Fig. 2 is an edge view of the safety pin of Fig. l.

Figs. 3 and 4 are sections, on an enlarged scale, along the lines 3--3and lle-4 respectively of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary View of thepin of Fig. 1 partly sectioned toshow the ledge.

I have indicated at Ill and Il front and back safety pin legs formedfrom resilient stockwith an intermediate coil portion I2yieldably'maintaining the free ends of the legs normally a predetermineddistance apart to establish the open position of the safety pin.

The free end of the leg I0 is embedded in a head I3 which is ,preferablymolded from any suitable plastic, and to ensure that the leg I 0 issecurely anchored therein, its extremity is bent as at 14.

I form the .head with a recess, generally indicated at I5, openingtowards the coil portion I2 and of such cross sectional shape that itestablishes a pocket I6 spaced vfrom the embedded end of the leg I u andin a plane, indicated at I'I, normal to the legs, and a sinuous channelI8 extending upwardly and outwardly through one side of the head I3 andlocated wholly on that side of the plane Il' to establish an entrancefor the pointed end of the leg II virtually abutting the embedded leg.In order that the entrance be as small as possible, its upper edge isshown in Fig. l as substantially parallel to the leg I0 while its loweredge is inclined downwardly towards the mouth of the, recess tofacilitate the entrance of the pointed end of the leg I I therein.

Preferably, I provide the head I3 with a lip I9 adjacent that entranceso that, to close the safety pin, it is only necessary to press the legI I towards the leg Ill along the side of the head I3 until the lip I9is passed. When the manual pressure cn the leg II is released, thespring tension thereon forces it downwardly through that' entrance andinto the Apocket IE. The recess Idealso includes a second'channel 2Ddisposedto establish a surface'ZLthat intersects the plane I'I andisinclined upwardly relative 'ky thereto towards the side of the head I3opposite to the entrance for the leg II thereby preventing the openingof the safety pin unless the leg I I is positively guided into andthrough the channel I8.

To facilitate the use of a safety pin in accordance with my invention, Iform the head I3 with a ledge 22 which constitutes a part of the web 23separating the channels I8 and 29. The ledge 22 enables the. user to:easily determine when the leg I I has entered the channel I8 when theclosed pin is to be opened.

I have shown my safety pin as having a guard, generally indicated at 24,enclosing its coil I2. The guard 2li consists of sections 25 and 26 asshown in Fig.l 4 which enclose the coilportion I2 when assembled and oneof, them. has a coil entering stud 2l. The leg I0 extends through theperiphery of the section 25 while the section 26 has a recess whichestablishes, in the assembled gua-rija, "slotv 28 through which the legtI.' freely extendswhen the safety pin is open. -Thesslot' 28 isdimensioned to provide a shoulder engageable by the leg; II as; it; ismoved a predetermined distance from its open towards its closed position:soz that the further movement of the leg lil required to enable it toenter the head entrance results in the leg Il being bent therebyincreasing the locking pressure thereon.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that safety pins, in accordancewith. my invention, arev easily manufactured and are attractive inappearance. Not only do my safety pins minimize the. chance of clothbeing caught therein, but also are adapted to be easily opened andclosed While being securely held in their closed position againstaccidental openings thereby making; them well suited for use in the careof babies'.

What I therefore claim and desire to. secure by'Letters. Patent is:

1=., A. safety pin. comprising front and back' legs connected togetherat adjacent ends so thatl they are maintained normally in a plane and sothat their free ends are urged apart, and a rigid head adjacent to theback of which the free end of said back leg is rigidly connected, saidhead having therein adjacent to its front edge a pocket to accommodatethe free end of the front leg when the pin is closed, said pocket lyingin the normal plane of said legs, said head having therein a recessincluding two branches extending from said pocket'l toward the back`edge of said head and dening therebetween a Web, one of said branchesbeing closed at its end nearer the back edge of said head and the otheropening diagonally outwardly through one side of said head near the backedge of said head, the closed end of saidrst branch lying to one side ofthe normal plane of said legs, said second branch lying entirely to theother side of said plane,

the. free end portion of said web being disposed at the same side ofsaid plane as the open branch of said recess and having its free edgespaced fromV the free end of the front leg when the latter is seated insaid pocket.

iront leg through the; open branch of the recess.

WILLIAM H. SN-EIRSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

